Character Creation

Character Creation Concepts

As stated, each character will have two personas- his Actor persona, and his Role persona. The Actor persona is the actual character as he appears in the 'real world', i.e. before he crosses to Overworld. The Role persona will build upon the Actor persona, and be based on experiences in Overworld and training that occurs there.

Creating the Actor

In creating the Actor, each player will create a character with 75 points. There are certain abilites that will make things easier for the character in the real world, i.e. when he is not actively adventuring for Overworld. But most of these will not carry over to Overworld, thus one may consider those points a detriment to the character playing his Role. But this is a trade-off that will have to be considered.

The first step in creating the Actor is to allocate his Attributes. The player can also spend points on Advantages, Sciences, and Skills. Advantages are those background properties of a character that are out of the ordinary, be they extraordinary wealth, reputation, or contacts. Sciences cover the advances mankind has made in the uses of the body and mind in ways undreamed of in our time. Some sciences are useful in Overworld- but most are not because of the differences in the way that they physical laws function. Skills are learned aptitudes in broad areas; some are useful in Overworld only, some are useful in the real world only, and some are useful in both.

Creating the Role

Once the Actor is created, you must train that character to effectively fulfill his role. This will be done with a combination of points and role-playing. The GM will take the characters (together at times- or separately if need be) through a prequel in the Overworld academies, where Actors are taught to survive. Performance and role-playing here will increase the amount of points given to the Actor to create his role, but the main objective here is to get a feel for how Overworld will be, and what can be done to assist in creating the role.

Another 50 points are given to craft the Actor into the desired Role. These roles are quite flexible; the only governing body to creating roles is how the Conservatory trains their hopefuls. The College of Magick teaches its students how to call the state of mind necessary to harness the flows of Essence that are available on Overworld to create a variety of magickal effects. Sub-schools deal with how to harness one aspect of the essence more than others, or how to combine essence manipulation with combat prowess. The College of Combat teaches its students everything there is to know about combat, from individual one-on-one duels to leading huge armies in mortal combat on the field of battle. Sub-schools deal with specializations in certain types of combat, or adding other special skills to combat prowess to make the Actor memorable. And that's what it's all about as an actor- to risk your life in entertaining ways, making your character memorable to your audience.

When crafting the Actor's role, points can be spent on Skills, Magick and the ability to harness The Bleed. Magick is an ability only useable on Overworld- to be able to use the flows of Essence to craft miraculous effects. The Bleed is an ability possessed to some extent by all actors. It is a force that is stirred from the interaction of the flows of essence on Overworld with the Ebb that flows through all from our world- the energy bleeds through, allowing the actor to do things far beyond the mortal ken around them.

Finishing Touches

Though this game uses a variant of the Amber system, it does not use Good Stuff/Bad Stuff. Instead, the game will use Drama Points, a concept created by Tony Lower-Basch and adapted to the Overworld system. In addition, Restrictions are available to add depth to a character concept, after all, what is a hero without his own disadvantages to overcome?